Caen BC qualified for the round of 32 in the Coupe de France by dominating the team of Cep Lorient, resident of Nationale 1, on the score of 83-73. Antoine Michon, the coach of the Normans, delivers his first reactions after qualifying his team.
Antoine Michon (Caen BC coach): "We were playing tonight without an American, and all people sometimes forget this context. If we remove Jordan Semple and Zachary Brown, the two Americans from Lorient, the Lorient team necessarily plays differently. And the players from the other side of the Atlantic are the spearheads of the Pro B teams. It is also when our major players return to join a team that must be dynamic (Jerrold Brooks whose return is scheduled for November 16 and Jordan Tolbert will replace Brad Waldow, whose performance was too insufficient for a foreign player).
Today, we win against a team of National 1 less physical and less substantial, and we could make speak our athletic volume is much higher. But if this victory can give us a little more confidence before moving next weekend to Lille in the league, these are important moments to regain control over our basketball. Because for now, we have so far always done the round back. There are thirty games left to play.
We played so far with a diminished team. It is true that at the high level, there are no excuses but there are sometimes extenuating circumstances. I have just arrived in Caen. There are implementations that are not easy, and there are people who sometimes lose the notion of time. The team is built around men and I do not doubt for a second that we will do very interesting things in a while. In any case, we will fight for ... "